


Any Road Up

by bleak_midwinter



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-03 08:38:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10963632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bleak_midwinter/pseuds/bleak_midwinter
Summary: Evelyn Sawyer has spent her recent years establishing a quiet life for herself in London, away from the slum and the gangs that her mother feared cursed her life back in Birmingham. But when her path crosses with the Shelby brothers one day, she realises that the quiet life she's been working towards isn't what she wants.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic HASN'T been abondoned, however it was started from prompts on Tumblr which have since been forgotten due to another couple of long prompt stories that I'm writing.   
> Once those are finished I will continue.

We’d barely got the first pot of coffee brewed when they gambolled in, pulling each other around by the shoulders and ruffling each other’s hair, probably still half cut from yesterday.

“Who are they?” I whisper to Mary, who just shrugs and disappears into the back leaving me on my own to ponder.

I try to watch them in the mirror behind the bar, making sure I keep looking busy. I didn’t see them check in yesterday so they must have arrived late, and I’m trying to conjure a story of how they might know each other when I catch one of them, who looks like the youngest speak.

“That was so fuckin’ funny though Arthur!”

I don’t know what he’s talking about but Arthur looks a little sheepish, so I decide I probably don’t want to know; London’s a dangerous place at the moment. But that’s not what catches my attention. The unmistakable Brummie twang of home seems to hang in the air and I’ve figured out who they are even before Hugo rushes over to me and practically drags me from behind the bar.

“Why have they not been served? Do you know what they did last night?” he tries to whisper in my ear, but his panic means he can’t keep himself quiet.

I just shake my head.

“Well if you leave them hanging around all this glassware unattended to, then you’ll probably find out.”

“They some of the Peaky Blinders?” I ask, uninterested in his veiled threat.

“They aren’t _some_ of the Peaky Blinders, they’re _the_ Peaky Blinders, so get them served,” Hugo hisses.

I hang around at the bar, my own sense of self preservation swamped by my stubbornness of not wanting to do what Hugo tells me. I wait till he’s far enough away from the bar that it’ll make a scene, before I call out to him.

“You know you could take the gentlemen’s orders, seeing as you’re _also_ a server and I’m busy?”

He freezes and the Peaky Blinders look from me to Hugo and then all lean back in their seats in unison, watching as he flounders for a reply. I can almost see the sweat trickling down his neck from here.

“Apologies gentlemen, but I’m currently required elsewhere. My colleague here will take your order now, and please accept my sincerest apologies that she’s left you waiting so long. Enjoy your day gentlemen.” He dips his head and hurries out the room. 

It’s a good save and now the three sets of eyes are on me, so I make my way over to them.

“Sorry about that, he just fu-” I catch myself and remember how much trouble I went through to get a job somewhere this nice, “-he’s just always so busy…” I plaster a fake smile on my face and flip my hair a little bit, hopefully distracting them enough to cover my slip. “What can I get for you?”

“He seems like a proper posh twat,” Arthur says gesturing to where Hugo was stood.

“You’re telling me,” I reply before I can stop myself, hopefully they aren’t the type to rat me out to my boss.

“He tell you who we were?” the younger one asks.

“ _The_ Peaky Blinders,” I reply confidently. I’ve grown up with stories of gangsters, lived in their shadows my entire life; they don’t scare me.

“You’re not from round here,” the other one says, his eyes on me, so blue and intense that they feel like they’re already searching through my brain for the answer.

“No sir. Small Heath born and bred.”

He nods slowly, but it’s clear he already knew.

“How well do you know London?”

“Pretty well…Anyway, what can I get you?” I try to pull the conversation back to business so I can look away from the piercing eyes of the man sat across from me.

“I’d kill for a coffee…literally,” the younger one answers with a smirk. Apparently the in-joke is too much for Arthur, who dissolves into a fit of laughter.

“Make that two,” he eventually manages to spit out.

“Three.”

I nod and turn to get their order sorted, but before I leave the table I get called back.

“What’s your name?” It’s the one with the blue eyes that’s asked me, but before I can stop myself my instincts take over.

“What’s _your_ name?” I almost kick myself as soon as the words leave my mouth but I get an answer all the same.

“This is John,” he gestures to the younger man sat beside him, “Arthur,” who nods, “I’m Tommy, and as you might already know we’re the Shelby Brothers and we’re looking to move out business down to London.”

"Evelyn Sawyer," I reply with a nod. I get the feeling Tommy would only ask at reception if I didn’t tell him, may as well keep it friendly.

“Does it scare you that the Peaky Blinders want to move in on your city?” Tommy asks.

I ponder it for second, but I’m certain in my answer. “No… And London’s not really _my_ city…”

“Ay Tommy, she’s a brummie girl!” John laughs nudging at my hip with his elbow.

“Mmm,” is all Tommy replies, and for a second I think the conversation’s over. Then Tommy shifts forward in his seat and stares at me with those eyes that seem to burn through to my soul. “I’m going to need you soon.”

I can’t help the shiver of excitement that runs through me at the thought of seeing his world from the other side.

“Well, you know where to find me,” I say with a smile.

“I know where to find you,” Tommy reiterates.

I head back to the bar to make their coffees and let out a deep, shaky breath. My mother sent me to London to keep me away from the gangs of Birmingham, only for them to find me here, and the worst part is that I’m excited…


	2. Chapter 2

It’s a quiet day in the hotel, something had kicked off again last night between some of Solomon’s minions and some Sabini boys so everyone who doesn’t desperately need to be out have locked themselves in their hotel rooms.

“I’m telling you this is the start of a war in London,” Hugo says, his face deadpan and I know he’s trying to scare Mary.

“Don’t be a prick Hugo. We don’t know it was them and neither Solomons nor Sabini is stupid enough to let a bar fight cause a war. If anything I bet one of them will reach out for a partnership, probably Sabini, he seems like he’s got more sense.”

“How do you know all this?” Mary asks wide eyed and I realise I’ve probably revealed too much of my ‘other side’.

“Because she been fucking the gypsy gangster from Birmingham,” Hugo raises his hands to be just that little bit more dramatic and deepens his voice, “Tommy Shelby.”

Mary puts a hand to her mouth and I almost groan from all the dramatics.

“Is that true?” she asks, her tone no different to if she’d found out I murder first borns as a hobby.

“No of course it’s not fucking true. You,” I point at Hugo as I start to walk backwards out the room, “you’re Satan, stop spreading lies and trying to scare everyone you melodramatic tw-” I’m cut off as I collide with someone who grabs me by the shoulders to steady me.

“Careful,” they say and I realise that it’s Tommy Shelby.

“Told you,” I hear Hugo mumble and I make a lunge to swing for him only to to be held back by Tommy and directed to a seat at the table closest to us.

“Out,” Tommy orders and Hugo ushers a teary-eyed Mary from the bar. We sit in silence while he lights a cigarette and hands it to me, I take it gladly and watch, captivated as he lights another for himself.

“Are you working with Alfie Solomons?” I blurt when he leans back in his chair.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because there’s been some rumours of a few little disturbances between his side and the Sabinis, so you need to be careful,” I explain.

He takes a long drag of his cigarette and slowly blows it out. It looks sexy as hell and I try to copy on the sly.

“Why’s that?” he asks.

“Hmm?” I almost forget that we’re meant to be having a conversation because I’m so transfixed on his smoking habits.

“Why does an issues between Solomons and Sabini mean I have to be careful?”

I explain again my theory of a truce and he nods slowly, taking it all on board.

“Do you know Solomons?” he asks.

“I know off him, I have an idea of where I could possibly find some of his men, but nothing more.”

“Find out more,” he states, just like that. Like it’s easy. Like it’s no big deal.

I nod, all I ever needed was the excuse.

“I have something else I need you to do,” he writes something on a piece of paper and slides it across the table.

It’s an address.

“I need you to keep an eye on the woman who lives there,” he explains.

“Who is she?” I ask, tucking the paper in my apron.

“She’s important to me and we’ll leave it at that. Just make sure she’s safe, and keep me informed alright?”

“Course.”

I see Hugo poke his head back round the door, like he’s been trying to listen to the conversation. Tommy looks over his shoulder to see who I’m giving evils to.

“Can I ask something of you Tommy?”

“Go on.”

“Any chance you can make people ‘disappear’?”

He almost smiles, the corners of his mouth twitch for a second before he replies.

“You just look after yourself.”


End file.
